Thousands rallied worldwide to the cause of social justice and protection for workers May Day marches that also drew in protests over the Iraq war.
Almost 60 police officers were injured early in clashes with May Day demonstrators in Berlin.
More than 100 people were arrested when violence broke out in a park in the east of the German capital. Thousands of police were on duty to deal with violence.
In northern China, celebrations were marred by reports that 35
coal miners had died and 16 were missing in two accidents.
In Sydney, more than 1,000 people joined a march to deliver a May Day message to Australian Prime Minister John Howard. Organisers there said workplace safety was a main theme in this year's May
Day marches around the globe.
In Egypt, demonstrators demanding better pay and shouted anti-US
and Israel slogans were confronted by hundreds of police in riot
gear, who used clubs to break up the Cairo gathering.
Turkish riot police also detained around 150 people who tried to
hold a May Day march in Istanbul and in Diyarbakir, the provincial
capital of the mostly Kurdish southeast.
In Japan, around 42,000 people demonstrated about planned
pension system reform, while some 12,000 others gathered in a Tokyo park demanding the government withdraw its 550 troops from Iraq.
In Paris, the Christian CFTC trade union kicked off a raft of marches planned for the day, with a few thousand people rallying behind the theme of social justice within the new 25-member EU.
